Loving You
by Jessie Katz
Summary: Enthralling tapestry of relationships, choices, haunting truth, and a love that shaped their lives and in the end, will conquer them all. A Kurama & Botan. [On hiatus].


Disclaimer  
  
I hereby to inform you, that I don't own YUYU HAKUSHO.

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Hello Guys!!!  
  
I just want to share with you a story about Kurama and Botan. Well, I really like this couple a lot.  
  
So, everyone, I'll give you the summary of my story.  
  
Botan, a trusted deity of death, possesses a jovial nature and a rare gentleness to match her extraordinary beauty contrary to her title. But nobody knows about her past, even she or the Prince, who had known her most of her life.  
  
As the secrets of her past unfold, it seems to threaten her life and those people who are close to her are in turmoil. Deception and intrigue darkened a blooming bond. Ghost of the past haunt them, leaving them with nothing but anger. Will love overcome them after all?  
  
Will she conquer her fears? Can she face the challenges brought by her damn fate? Will HE able to save her before it's too late? The search for answers cost much more than she expected, torn between acceptance and denial, the game of destiny that must be played and the greatest love that will change their lives forever.  
  
I really, really hope you'll like this story. Kindly give reviews if possible, your encouragement will help a lot.  
  
I would like to give credits for Ash Wednesday who wrote "Botan's Past", the story that inspired "Loving You"!

Well this chapter is way too different from my writing. I just hate introductions, so I kinda messed this up! And this story is **_not _**that important, it's just nothing, I guess. Sorry.

So please kindly read it and give reviews if possible, it will mean so much to me! And please be kind, this is my first fanfiction (although I wrote a lot of stories) and the first one to be published on public.  
  
Thank you!

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**LOVING YOU**

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Chapter One

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_First Prologue_

Takeshi couldn't believe his eyes. There in the street lies his unconscious body with blood around his head. People crowded around him, some of them shouted to call an ambulance. Police patrols came, trying to control the curious crowd. What's happening? He thought.  
  
The flow of traffic slowed, drivers shouting curses on the crowd ahead. The busy streets become noisy with all the shouts and honking of cars. The siren of an ambulance is coming nearer and nearer.  
  
Out of the mob, Takeshi stood there waiting for something he didn't know. Then his eyes caught something up in the sky, flying. Could it be possibly an angel? He wonders. A figure of a young woman, sitting on an oar, clad in a pink kimono, with her blue hair tied in a ponytail and her beautiful features showing serenity.  
  
It came nearer and nearer until it halted a few feet above the ground, still sitting on the wooden oar. She smiled jovially at him then she spoke, "Hello Mr. Takeshi, I'm Botan, and I will be your guide on your journey till we reach your destination."  
  
Takeshi stepped back when the lady came down from her oar then held out a delicate hand to him. He hesitantly looked at her outstretched hand, then to her face. "Who are you?" he asked with wide frantic eyes.  
  
She chuckled over his reaction and said sweetly, "I'm Botan, a ferry guide."  
  
His frown deepens, "What are you?"  
  
"I am a guide, you see–" she said, thinking carefully for the right words to say to him.  
  
"I know that you are a guide, you already said that," Takeshi snapped impatiently. "What do I mean is explain to me what is a 'ferry guide'?"  
  
You need to be patient Botan, she reminded herself when she thought of boxing Takeshi's ear because of his short temper. "Yes, like what I said a while ago, I am guide," when she saw that annoying frown in Takeshi's face again, "A guide to the Netherworld," she said quickly with emphasis on the last word.  
  
Takeshi gaped at what she said. Oh God, this will be pretty hard, she thought. Grabbing his hand, she summoned her oar on the other. Takeshi couldn't believe at what he saw, they're flying. "Wait!"  
  
Botan stopped when she heard his shout, "You mean you're death?" when she nodded, he wants to throw thousands of questions at her. "I'm dead?" he shouted. She nodded again, smiling.  
  
They started to move again in the air when he shouted again, "Wait," but she didn't stop. She only regarded him when she looked at him over her shoulder. "I can't be dead" he said desperately.  
  
It's now her turn to frown, "I thought you saw yourself lying on the street down there?"  
  
"Well yeah, but I can't be dead," he said emphatically.  
  
"Why not?" with patience slipping away, Botan asked a little louder than she intended too.  
  
Takeshi felt like crying. Last evening he went to dinner with his mother in a restaurant together with his mom's fiancé. His mom didn't forgive him for what he had said.  
  
_Toying his food, the man seated across him, her mom's fiancé spoke, "I want you to stand as our best man for our wedding Takeshi. You're mom suggested that the best man should be the one closest to her," Mr. Shinji Ito said with a smile.  
  
He snorted, his hand itching to hit the man's face. "Really? I think it should be dad. He's the closest 'man' to my mom, before you came."  
  
Shinji's smile faded, but he decided to be silent and let his fiancée handle it. Eimi Sukishiro shot his son with an angry glance. "It's not a nice thing to say Takeshi," his mom said with cold voice.  
  
He ignored his mother but look at Shinji with resentful eyes instead. "I don't know what you want from us, but if you're after my mom's money, you'll never get it." His mom and Shinji were too stunned to react at his statement. Satisfied at the impact he just created, he decided leave.  
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That morning, he got a fight with his dad about his failed grades. After an hour of shouting words and curses at each other, throwing and hitting valuable furniture, Takeshi left their house while his dad demanded him to get back.  
  
Then it dawned to him all the scenes came flashing back at the back of his mind. The crowd, the police, shouts of people, the sound of honking vehicles and the alarming ambulance. It all explains everything.  
  
"I'm sorry," the sound of the deity's voice shattered his reverie. He looked at her with sad eyes.  
  
He smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "It seems that I can't apologize to my mom anymore," his voice full of emotion, "or my dad. We have fight this morning, you know. And I can't tell them," tearing his gaze from hers, "how much I love them anymore."  
  
"We must tell the people who are special to us how much we love them as often as we can," her lavender eyes mirroring the sadness from his, "for we may not know when the time, such as this, will come and snatch away our opportunity to say we love them so much."  
  
Smiling at the deity's words, Takeshi said softly, "Yeah, I guess you're right."  
  
They float in the air in silence for so long he didn't recognize that they're already in another world. His attention was captured by a light slashing the dark sky, and then he realized they're in a forest. No, a wild jungle, he thought. "What place is this?"  
  
She looked at him over her shoulder then smiled, "This is called Makai, known to human as the demon world." He nodded silently.  
  
Looking surprised because her passenger didn't argue for further explanation, she only shrugged then focused her attention at the view ahead. Her eyes caught something but she couldn't make out of it. Then all of a sudden, some sort of net was thrown over them loosing their balance that made them fall to the ground.  
  
"What the –" she said, and then when she raised her head, a giant demon blocked her view. "Oh my God," she gasped with shock. Frantically looking for his companion who is gone, the demon made an attempt to walk toward her. "No, don't you dare come a little closer," she said shakily.  
  
With a roar of laughter the demon spoke, "Oh come on missy, don't you want to play a little game?" ignoring her demand.  
  
"What – what game?" she stammered, sounding dumb.  
  
"Lemme see," putting a finger on his chin and pretended to think deeply. "How about, Hide and Seek, you can run if you want."  
  
Botan started to get up, "Run," the monster shouted, laughing for her sorry state as she frantically run away from. He will let her run as far as she could and hide before he will start looking. It's the rule of Hide and Seek, right? He thought.  
  
Her scent is getting weaker and weaker. It's almost time, he reminded him. With satisfied smirk he started to jump from tree to tree, following her scent. "Such a lovely scent, milady," he bellowed.  
  
All of a sudden, her scent was gone. "What the hell –" he cursed loudly.  
  
Drops of water fall down from the sky. Series of lightning slashed the sky then followed by the loud, angry roar of the gods. "Where the hell did she go?"  
  
He slowed his pace, sniffing her scent, but still no trace of her. He heard a sound of rustling leaves then he followed it.  
  
"Missy!" he called out. "Come out, come out where ever you are," walking towards the big tree then searching the branches for her figure. "I know you're up there dear, such a brilliant way to hide your scent." Holding the trunk with both hands, he raised his head, "Come out now love, I promise I won't hurt you," and then he started to shake it fiercely.  
  
A white figure jumped out from the tree though the monster didn't notice it. Then he reached for the silver rose behind his head. The sound of whip as it slashed against the wind somehow caught the demon's attention.  
  
His wide eyes shown with fear and anxiety as he recognize the kitsune. "Shit," he cursed.  
  
"I don't know how in earth you entered my lair," he said with deadly calm. "I don't like it though."  
  
The demon eyed him warily trying to push away the sense of fear out of his system. He's larger than him anyway so there's no point of being afraid, even though he is the infamous Youko Kurama.  
  
Cold eyes looked at the demon, sending shivers through his spine. "I make it clear that whoever trespass into my territory without my consent will end up," pausing as he move for his fighting stance. "Dead."  
  
"You son of a bitch, do you think of me as a coward?" he bit back. "I'll fight you, even though it's not the purpose why I'm here in your godforsaken place."  
  
Kurama raised a brow. "Then pray tell why you are here."  
  
The demon smirk, at least he caught the kitsune's attention all he need is the right time to run. "There's a lady you see," smiling triumphantly at the kitsune's expression of interest. "A young and beautiful lady who happened to lost within your woods."  
  
"And you're looking for her," when the demon nodded in agreement, he snorted saying, "You idiot, you think I'll believe your damn tale?"  
  
"How dare you insult me you good-for-nothing thief," with all his might, the demon pulled the tree from its root then swung it forward aiming for the silver-haired kitsune.  
  
But the demon missed him. "Nice try wimp, now it's my turn," he held his whip high above his head then with full force he slashed it against the tree breaking it into half. A sound of explosion followed, now it is intended for the kitsune.  
  
The impact caused the kitsune's body to hit the nearby mountain. "Take that you son of a bitch," he snarled. Standing for a minute to make sure Kurama is dead, he started to leave. "That's for the throw of insults to me, bastard."  
  
Then he felt something snapped within his body followed by a spurt of blood from his mouth. "What the hell," holding his chest gasping for air. The sound of his scream surrounded the air. The sight of demon wrapped with the vines and stems while a pretty flower sucks the blood from the demon's body.  
  
Standing from where he lay, he smiled at the picture ahead. Satisfaction all over is features. "Bastard," he smirked arrogantly.

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End file.
